I am a producer-director-writer-activist who works from and towards the premise that, in the words of playwright Wole Soyinka, “Theater is the most revolutionary art form.”

As a director, I am drawn to plays that mirror my own directing aesthetic: Simple human connection with clean and polished beauty contrasted with a gritty and aggressive feel that exposes the often-ugly underbelly of American society. I believe it is imperative to create with other artists of various backgrounds and experiences. However, it is not enough to hire or cast productions based on displayed diversity. We need a diversity of ways of doing theater; as the content shifts, so must the form. When directing, I maintain the overall vision and structure while being a collaborator in the rehearsal room. I have found that by decentering the traditional hierarchical process, that the product will have true transformative power to emanate beyond the play, through the audience, and into greater society.

Playwrighting allows me to channel my creativity to challenge social conventions that perpetuate various systems of oppression. I write stories that center the diversity of Latinx experiences, mixed-race characters and themes, and stories of women of color or those whose very existence is the embodiment of intersectionality. This is not to explore identity for identity sake, but rather, to complicate our too often “skin deep” understanding of what divides us as a people. A mixed-race experience, for example, can dismantle the ideology of race pertaining to blood quantum or inherent qualities. It can show how race is a social construct, and thereby make visible the true structures of racism. In privileging such a perspective, I believe we can disrupt many of the imaginary, yet real boarders that tend to block empathy and unity.

As a creative producer, I am best able to put my values into praxis. I believe it is the responsibility of a producer to gather, uplift, and genuinely celebrate creators from various backgrounds and experiences, while making sure no one becomes a forced representative of their perceived identity. If a producer is socially conscious, invested in their own continual education, and critical of their own work, they have the potential to foster a brave, safe space where revolutionary theater can thrive.

Ultimately, I wish to participate in changing the landscape of the American Theater to not only create space for silenced voices to be heard, but more specifically for other and multiple worldviews to emerge.